Windows 10 Growth Rate Stalls Globally – U.S. Continues to Adopt It

New data reveals that Windows 10 growth rate slowed globally in the last month of 2016, even though it continues to steadily grow in the United States. At the end of the year, Microsoft’s latest operating system was powering a quarter of all the personal computers of the world.

Nearly 25% of PCs are now running Windows 10

Data from analytics firm Net Applications released for the last month of 2016 reveals that Windows 10 now claims 24.36% share of the market, only a 0.64% increase from November. The operating system now powers 24.4% of all personal computers, running about 26.6% of all Windows machines, since Windows powers 92% of all PCs, not 100%.

The new data also shows that Windows 10 continues to grow in the United States, powering more than a third of all Windows PCs by the end of 2016. Data posted by the Digital Analytics Program (DAP) shows that Windows 10 now accounts for 35.8% of all Windows PCs, up from 34.4% in November. Different stats over the last year have also confirmed that the US has shown a better growth rate average than the worldwide average.

When launching in July 2015, Microsoft had aimed to reach a billion devices within a period of 2-3 years. With half of that time already gone, Windows 10 hasn’t even reached to 500 million devices yet. Back in September, the company had reported that the new OS was powering 400 million active devices. Following a decline in the growth rate, it’s not likely that Windows 10 has gained another 100 million since then.

With the lack of any more reports from the company, it is plausible to believe that the growth rate has significantly slowed down and will continue to do so – especially in the consumer market. But, with most of the businesses (including Department of Defense) yet to upgrade and Windows 10 Creators Update planned for an April release, the Redmond tech giant could very well meet its goal of a billion devices by August 2018.